As the author of 19 books and dozens of articles, I've had my battles with writer's block. Is there a cure for this disease? Perhaps not. But hopefully I can offer the reader of this blog some valuable tips for writing.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Best Advice of All

Just keep plugging along. That's the best advice for writers. And try not to fret too much when a publisher delays publication. I learned about a woman last week who had expected her book to be published by Eerdmans here in Grand Rapids 2 years ago, and it still isn't out. That's just plain sad. I had expected my book The Biographical Bible to be available mid September, now Baker is saying mid November. It's already listed on Amazon with that later publication date.

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Thomas Hardy's Writing Habits

What kept him going in these late years--eighty-four, eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven--was the simple daily habit of picking up his pen. "I never let a day go without using a pen. Just holding it sets me off; in fact I can't think without it. It's important not to wait for the right mood. If you do it will come less and less."

Claire Tomalin, Thomas Hardy, 358.

Ruth A. Tucker

Here I am all dressed up in my lecture attire. I speak at college and church functions mainly on topics related to my books. I have a Ph.D. in history, but I've expanded beyond that discipline. When I'm not writing and speaking, I'm just a working stiff (along with husband John) at Carlton Gardens, our garden and gift shop in Grand Rapids..

Anne Lamott on Writing

I sometimes teach classes on writing, during which I tell my students every single thing I know about the craft and habit. This takes approximately 45 minutes. I begin with my core belief—and the foundation of almost all wisdom traditions—that there is nothing you can buy, achieve, own, or rent that can fill up that hunger inside for a sense of fulfillment and wonder. But the good news is that creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace, meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty.

Then I bring up the bad news: You have to make time to do this….

Oscar Wilde and the Money Issue

In a 13-pages letter, addressed to an aspiring author, he cautions writers not to rely on their craft for their livelihood.

"The best work in literature is always done by those who do not depend on it for their daily bread. Make some sacrifice for your art and you will be repaid but ask of art to sacrifice herself for you and a bitter disappointment may come to you."

In spite of his own advice, Wilde made his living in the journalism and literary world in England in the late 1800s.

Writing Posthumously

In his 1988 book of essays, “Prepared for the Worst,” Christopher Hitchens recalled a bit of advice given to him by the South African Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer. “A serious person should try to write posthumously,” Hitchens said, going on to explain: “By that I took her to mean that one should compose as if the usual constraints—of fashion, commerce, self-censorship, public and, perhaps especially, intellectual opinion—did not operate.”

Jeffrey Eugenides

NEVER STOP WRITING

Leo Tolstoy:

I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine.

John Updike:

I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again.